of plums and Paris fashion…

It’s that time of year again…time for Christmas presents.
Well, I am not exactly rushing the season, read on and you will understand.
Most years (except for this one, sadly) I spend September, October and most of November in Paris. Quite a bit of that time I spend with my best friend Y, a beautiful and amazing Japanese woman that has lived in Paris for the past 25 or so years working as an actress on stage and screen.

When we spend time together, we do all the girlie stuff two chicks let loose in Paris do; shoe shopping, tea drinking, pastry shopping, pastry eating, laughing (a lot, and often loudly in public), window shopping, people watching, flirting with the shopkeeper dudes, girolles (chanterelle) shopping at marché Les Halles on tiny rue des Prouvaires (we both adore this mushroom), café sitting and more shopping. But the most important of our yearly rituals is to buy Christmas gifts for each other as we shop together.
To insure that each of us can choose what we need or want that year, many, many stores need to be scouted each week. Y knows all the best places for fashion bargains, even when Paris is not in her “soldes” (sale) mode. Sadly this year I will miss that shopping extravaganza so when we spoke last week and I asked her if she had seen anything that I could get her as her gift. She quickly said “you know that I adore hats and this year in Paris the hot accessories are those in various hues of purple-ly plum”. She said that she has seen exactly what she want me to get her at the United Colors of Benetton store on avenue de la Opéra…a plum colored hand-knit hat with a matching scarf.

Done…I ordered it on-line immediately.

She reported that she sees accessories in this lovely shade in all the Paris grand magasins and boutiques; scarves, shoes, gloves, handbags, hats, vests, stockings. And an actress has to keep up with fashion, especially in Paris.

I was thrilled that she had found what she wanted. The hat and scarf was a stunning color that will look lovely on my beautiful friend.
Y also related that she found a beautiful Hermès scarf and leather gloves in this same stunning color at the Marché aux Puces for me. She remembered that I collect Hermès anything, (especially scarves) and that I lost one of my leather gloves last time I was there. I was happy to hear that she is being a staunch fashionista and making certain I am wearing fashion’s latest trendy colors.
So...it looks as though we will both be “pretty in purple” accessories for this winter.

(And even if I am here in Chicago for my autumn, I will still have some Parisienne style and a pop of color to brighten the cold months.)

That got me to thinking about how the fashion world has borrowed their color cues from natures palette of the season. That lovely succulent grape, ripe fig, perfect aubergine, plumy purple color appears in abundance in the farmers markets in the vegetables and fruits that are in season in late summer and early autumn. My emails has been flooded with recipes for eggplant gratins, plum pies and tarts, fig preserves and figs with sweet vanilla cream, grape compotes and on and on (and I thank you all for each and every one.)

It is nearly time to prepare dinner, so keeping with the color scheme of mother nature and Paris fashion, a rich and warming eggplant gratin seems just the thing for this cool evening.

I won't be wearing my new plum Hermès scarf and gloves, but my meal will be wearing the color of Paris’ hottest Fall fashion accessory.

A fashionable purple eggplant recipe coming next post...